Interestingly there is a doctrine we call common grace which produces natural revelation.
Then if we look at natural revelation we often find what has been labeled by legal jurists something known as natural law.
The natural law theory, which I believe is the accurate philosophical foundation for building a common grace justice system, agrees with the second table of the Law of Moses, i.e. the regulations that govern man to man relations. This is the basis to where we get both civil law and criminal law. Civil law says: "do all that you promised." Criminal law says: "do not physically damage another person or his/her property."
This too is supported by holistic evaluations of many legal/law systems. If you examine most all law codes in various countries there is a universal thread running through most of them. Most of the time the second table of the Mosaic Law code is arranged in some form or another in the legal codes.
This goes back to the idea that the law of God transcends cultures and time because it is rooted in the logic or reasoning of God himself and that logic is, as Dr. Noam Chomsky would say in language form, ingrained in all people at birth. People come wired so to speak to recognize the natural laws of the universe. As our beloved Thomas Jefferson wrote," we are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights."
People are born with a predisposition to have a basic moral code of ought. In philosophy we call this the "ought principle." People of all shapes, sizes, religions, non-religious, differing countries are born with the innate idea that we have a duty or an ought principle that governs us.
I find it interesting that Dr. Gordon Clark's work called: "Logic" speaks of the term "logos," which is the Greek term for Word. In John 1:1 we find that Christ is called the "logos." Dr. Clark makes a solid point that we get from the term logos our term for logic. He then adds, Christ is the logical revelation or the logic expression of God. This is what Paul meant when he said in Christ dwelt the fullness of God. Jesus brought to us the mind and heart of God in living form in the flesh.
What and how does that apply? All moral law codes in any country can be built by the logic code. We can apply the laws of logic and look back in to the OT Mosaic Code and find applications for today per principles of the logic of God and develop a system of laws that coincides with the natural laws of the universe. We can therefore use science, reason, and non-religious terms as we build a legal system based upon natural law that reflects the God of nature.
We can build what some theologians have rightly termed a "natural theology" which is NOT applicable in the realm of personal eternal salvation but for community salvation per a legal code that delivers people from the destruction of sin.
This is where so many get confused over the Mosaic law and the Law of Christ. The Mosaic Law code was not to SAVE people from their sins in the sense of SPIRITUAL ETERNAL SALVATION. It was a code to save them from physical judgment. In other words, the Mosaic Code was a legal code that kept the people from being physically judged by God. So in one sense living by the Mosaic Code delivered one from the penalty of physical judgment. This is why the nation as a whole was by divine judgment scattered into dispersion because they did not obey the Mosaic Code.
The code in that sense can be and should be a natural guide so long as we maintain the theological divide as taught by the NT. The sword and the codes for man to man relations has been given in a form of God's love in justice to the state. They are to build in principle, not in exact form but in principle, natural laws that are logical and if logical will align with the basic laws of the second table of Moses. This sphere operates in the justice form of the code. The state makes laws that deals with the man to man relations on the physical level. These laws deal with physical salvation/deliverance. In other words, if there is a natural law and it is being enforced by the sword your obedience saves you from physical justice and wrath.
The other table of the Mosaic law, the God to man and man to God relations, comes over into the hands of the NT as a code for the body of Christ as revealed and lived by Christ and taught by the apostles. This law code goes deep into the moral heart of a person and is a spiritual code that does can only be lived out in and through the power of the Spirit. Obedience to it cannot be obtained without the Spirit. To have the internal Spirit one must embrace Christ to be spiritual and morally saved for eternity. This form of the code, a grace code, is now the law of Christ that the people of God live under.
Mistakes in this area can cause all kinds of confusion, especially in political circles. For example, Dr. Charles Hodge, a brilliant Princeton scholar who wrote one of the greatest three volume systematic theologies in the history of Christendom goofed in this area and did not see the distinction between the God to man table of the Mosaic Law and the Man to Man table of the Code. Furthermore, he tried to keep both tables together in the development of a legal code today. He failed to see the way the code was transitioned over with two different administrators, namely the church and the state. He kept the old amillennial scheme from Roman Catholicism that placed the code of the law in both and the same place. The church was to enforce both tables of the law code.
What did he advocate for then? He was consistent with his logic but just wrong in his premises. He said, if we believe the Mosaic Code applies today then we need to make federal and states laws that require everyone to attend church. If they do not attend church or if they do not follow the law of the Sabbath they need to be jailed and prosecuted.
Therefore, to avoid prosecution of people for violation of acts that are violations between God and man we must keep the natural division of the Mosaic Code with its two parts: (1) God to Man Laws (administered or enforced by the church through the Spirit realm and church discipline realm) and (2) Man to man laws, verified by natural law (administered by the state officials who enforce it with the sword).
That can do a lot for all of us in maintaining a basic common moral society in man to man relations while allowing the churches to thrive as they hammer out the God to man relations while not killing one another with the sword as they argue, which has happened to many times in our past.
Dr. Allen
